Nokia News

Nokia has launched its biggest-ever smartphone Lumia 625 (priced at Rs 19,999) as well as the new flagship handset Lumia 925 (Rs 33,499) in India. Lumia 625 features a 4.7-inch screen, 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 512MB RAM while Lumia 925 has a 4.5-inch screen, 1GHz dual-core processor and 1GB RAM. Nokia is offering movies worth Rs 4,275 with Lumia 625.

Nokia says India is now its "least favourable market" and "the political risk of operating here" has become "suddenly substantially higher". Nokia, which is fighting Rs.20-billion tax demand from Indian authorities, said its tax problems made it "more cost-efficient to transfer the manufacture of mobile phones to China and to import them to India rather than manufacture them in Chennai".

Microsoft Corp on Tuesday announced that it would buy Nokia's mobile phone business and license Nokia's patents for $7.2-billion, and CEO of the Finnish firm, Stephen Elop, would join Microsoft. This was marked by an around 40% rise in Nokia’s shares. Nokia, once the world's dominant handset maker, will now concentrate on its networking unit, navigation business and technology patents.

After deal with Microsoft, Finnish phone giant Nokia can neither license the 'Nokia' brand for use in connection with mobile device sales nor use the brand on its own mobile devices till December-31, 2015. Nokia, which will get it's shareholder's nod for the $7.2-billion deal on November-19, will have to pay about $51-million as damages to Microsoft on their disapproval.

Nokia accidentally revealed the specifications of its biggest upcoming smartphone, the 6-inch Lumia 1520, on Tmall store - Nokia's official Internet marketplace for the Chinese market. Lumia-1520 will be the company's first phablet with quad-core processor (Snapdragon 800) and sport a full-HD display. The listing also says the device will feature a 20MP PureView camera and cost 4,999 yuan ($819).

To settle it's tax dispute in India, Nokia is willing to pay the Indian government Rs 2,250 cr (~$360 mn) in taxes as soon as it completes its sale to Microsoft (in a $7.2 bn deal). However, the Income Tax department, which has been persistent with its demands, said the company owes nearly $1 bn in taxes to the government.

The Income Tax Department has told the Delhi High Court that Nokia's offer to pay a minimum deposit of Rs 2,250 crore, against the Finnish mobile maker's total tax liability of nearly Rs 6,500 crore, is not acceptable. However, Nokia reiterated that it could not pay more. The court listed the matter for December 9.

Nokia on Monday launched its new flagship smartphone, Lumia 1520 - the first Nokia device with a 6-inch screen, in the Indian smartphone market. At Rs 46,999, it is among the most expensive Nokia smartphones in the market. The smartphone has a full HD (1080p) display, 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB RAM and 32GB internal storage.